First business adventure: Turtles

 I know this is from an older story but just to reminisce I want to share my first business adventure and then I am going to add in some stories about my business history .

Well, when i was about 7 years old and we had the Grainola District Fair going on I had experienced for a few years turtle races.  The way it worked is I would find a terrapin and then use fingernail polish (red) to mark it with my name (don't worry, it was on the shell and would wear off easily and not harm the terrapin).  Then one of the men would draw a large circle on the blacktop by the Grainola School (see pic of old school building) and then take a cardboard box and everyone would pay 10 cents to enter and then place your terrapin (turtle) in the box in the middle of the circle.  The person in charge would raise the box (there was no bottom in the box) and the turtles would be off to the races.  The first turtle reaching the outside of the circle would win (there usually was a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place).

This was a pretty fund gig, but I soon realized there was a better way to make money.  I started with my dad's help gather turtles/terrapins a few weeks early and then at the Grainola District Fair I would sell turtles.  Yep, I made a killing as most kids did not have a turtle and wanted to enter the races.  Of course, the dads were very competitive and would pay the higher prices to get a good racing turtle.  Another advantage I had was that I could test the turtles for speed and keep that one for me.  Now I will have to tell you that turtles are unpredictable, and one might not even put its head out for the race, but I had no guarantees for performance, but I could sell you another turtle.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• a turtle in the hand is worth more than two in the bushes
• Leverage your opportunity by finding what others don't see
• Enjoy what you are doing, else find something that excites you

Thanks for listening,

gary

gary.olson@finaciti.com

If you are interested in Finaciti and would like to join, send me an email and I will get you a code that allows you to have total access for $24/ year or $2 per month.

 

heebie-jeebies

 heebie-jeebies - yes, it is a real word, and it scares me to death.

Have you ever walked to a cliff or a balcony and looked down?  Well, last week I was in the mountains (Yellowstone and Grand Tetons) and was hiking with Shouna and Preston.   My entire life I have been scared of heights.  Now, I don't avoid them, but they give me the heebie-jeebies.  I can set and watch a movie and when they jump off a cliff I get the heebie-jeebies.  OK, but here is what I learned in the national parks which also include Flaming Gorge and the National Dinosaur Monument:

• the earth has gone through several hot and cold climate changes over millions of years
• there were large floods that caused the dinosaurs to die off in a short period of time and due to the flood were piled up in a riverbed
• large canyons and mountains formed by plates of rock pushing against each other and that water from floods caused a great deal of erosion
• that our government and its agencies only show one possibility of how this occurred and not a single person lived to see this all happen

What interests me is that there is a possibility that a large flood like in the Bible could have been the cause of all of this.  Also, that global warming has been happening over and over again but no one that we talked to considered that global warming today might be for the same reason it has happened in the past.  In fact, based on the evidence they shared it sounds like we are in a normal cycle and man and animal has survived several of these cycles.  Does anyone beside me find it amazing that only one point of view is given?  I don't know and in fact was not there during creation even though I am getting old.  It seems to me that it takes more faith to believe in the BIG BANG than it does to believe in creation.

If a big bang would have happened, it seems that an explosion would create scattering of debris rather than organization.  Well, I am not the sharpest rock in the pile, but it seems to me that the logic is flawed or at least biased based on what they are looking for.   

So, what do you learn in the Osage?

• heebie-jeebies are a function of expectations, for me heights scare me
• what you become is a function of what you are looking for
• I chose to live by faith in Jesus Christ and that no matter what, He wins in the end
• It is easier to trust in God than to trust in opinions of those looking for answers in the wrong places 

Thanks for listening,

Gary

gary.olson@finaciti.com